Tennessee Titans OTA notes 5-27
By Will Lomas
Marcus Mariota was again the main attraction at the Tennessee Titans first few OTAs with the full team. Check out what those who were there had to say about it.
Jim Wyatt (Twitter account here)
“DaQuan Jones looks like a starter at one DE spot, Whisenhunt said”
-This is an interesting move. Ropati Pitoitua has been in the starting lineup as both the 4-3 starting defensive end and the 3-4 defensive end. While he hasn’t been a star, it always looked like his play was average to above average and he had moments where he really stood out as one of the better defensive players on the field.
-Having said that, you can’t really blame the Tennessee Titans for trying to get one of their younger players more reps. While I didn’t see anything that really wowed me about DaQuan Jones in 2014, far be it from me to question a coaching decision made by Dick LeBeau.
“Byron Bell is getting first crack at right tackle spot “
-Well that is disappointing. I don’t really think Byron Bell is all that good, but there is an upside to this. I like seeing players compete for jobs and if Jeremiah Poutasi really wants to be the starting offensive tackle, he will get plenty of chances to prove it in the preseason.
-With the starters sitting out the bulk of the games, that would be the perfect time for Poutasi to show off his ability against other backups and maybe earn some snaps against starters.
“Titans just wrapped up OTA. Thought Marcus Mariota looked even sharper today. Made some impressive throws into tight windows”
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-You have to love this as a Tennessee Titans fan. For a player whose only real blemish yesterday was an interception, to come back the next day and make some good catches in tight spaces, that is a competitor. I would like to think that this means that Marcus Mariota studied his mistakes and realized the speed of the game more which led to this improvement.
-I will talk more about this in a later quote.
Paul Kuharsky (Twitter account here)
“Whiz: O-line needs live action to start to solidify. Looking at a lot of guys at [a] lot of spots.”
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FanSided
-I posted an earlier quote talking about how Jeremiah Poutasi needs to compete, well if Ken Whisenhunt says the Tennessee Titans offensive line jobs are up for grabs it looks like he may have a shot to earn a starting job even before the preseason if things go right.
Greg Arias (Twitter account here)
“Whiz praises WR for making plays imcluding Rico Richardson. Douglas.Wright and Hunter.”
-So, I may be reading into this too much but I have a theory. Isn’t it strange how seemingly every receiver is having very good practices? This isn’t just from the mouth of Ken Whisenhunt, other media writers are commenting on it as well. My theory is, maybe the receivers aren’t necessarily better, maybe it is Marcus Mariota who is making all the difference.
-In college, viewers saw Marcus Mariota’s good ball placement and ability to progress through reads make mediocre (at best) receivers look very good. Maybe Marcus Mariota is doing the same thing at the next level.
Summary
That is pretty much it from today. Still no real attention on the defense in these practices, but who can blame the media for focusing on the offensive side of the ball considering that is where essentially all their draft capitol was spent.
When things go live I expect Marcus Mariota to struggle more because every offense in the NFL takes a week or two to catch up to the defense, but it is hard not to take note of the rookie’s development. All signs look good or the former Oregon Duck, and it looks like he learning how to do the little things like take control of a huddle very well too.
All signs are pointing up for the Tennessee Titans right now, unfortunately all three Dorial Green-Beckham, Marcus Mariota and David Cobb will all be absent tomorrow as the head to a rookie event.